Classified
by rationalbookworm
Summary: AU. In a locked cabinet in the desk of Phil Coulson under his collection of antique Captain America trading cards, is a stack of files that few had ever seen. Turns out, the Avengers weren't the only team the Agent put together. (re-uploaded)
1. Kuekuatsheu

**So I had this posted already once, but decided that I had too much on my plate to post on this right now, so I deleted it. Now I'm sitting here and can't seem to focus on any of my other stories but this one. So I'm posting it again. Sorry for anyone waiting for an update on anything else. I've hit a small bit of writer's block that is being exceptionally difficult to get rid of. Hopefully it'll be gone soon and I can get back on that. Until then, I guess I'll work on this.**

**This was originally two chapters but then I thought I'd just make every movie I go through one epic long chapter, but I hate when people do that. It's bad enough keeping one chapter for an episode of a show, but a movie? That's just too much. So instead I put my original two chapters into one and continued from there. Longer chapter, but not so long that it makes my brain hurt. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four and any other movie I mention belong to Marvel. I make no profit from writing.**

**X-Men Origins: Wolverine  
Kuekuatsheu**

Logan grunted as a slender hand nudged him non-too-lightly in the side but refused to budge. He heard the snuffling and quiet whines just fine, thank you very much. That didn't mean he had to get out of the warmth of his bed.

"It's your turn," the sleepy voice from next to him murmured.

He grunted again, "She's fine."

"Logan," Kayla sighed, "Go get your daughter before she starts crying."

As if on cue (and Logan was sure they could time it that perfectly, despite Elena only being a few months old) the baby let out a high pitched cry that had Logan cringing.

"Alright, alright," he muttered, rolling out of bed and studiously ignoring his lover's giggles. "I'm up." He moved to the small cradle in the corner of the bedroom. The small bundle wrapped in pink blankets blinked up at him, little hands waving in the air, "Happy now?"

He grinned as he lifted his child into his arms, carefully cradling her to his chest. Ducking his head, he buried his nose in the small tufts of black hair slicked to her head and inhaled. She always smelt amazing to him, the perfect blend of him and Kayla. She was his little miracle, the thing that made his past better, helped him forgive himself. He couldn't be all bad, if he was gifted with something this wonderful.

"Now that is a sight I like to see," Kayla chuckled.

Raising an eyebrow, Logan turned to look at her over his shoulder. She sat in the middle of their large bed, sheet pulled up over her body to hide her nudity despite their isolation and her hair mussed up beautifully. She was smirking, eyes wondering up and down his body pointedly. He glanced down, only then realizing he had failed to pull on even his boxers before he'd scooped up their child who was now contentedly snoozing once more.

He chuckled, "Insatiable."

She laughed with him as she got up to use the restroom, "Love you too."

* * *

Time passed differently for Logan. The fact that he didn't age – as far as he could tell anyway – meant that he didn't note the passage of time like others to begin with. Years could pass in a blink of an eye, while a month could feel like a decade. He supposed normal humans could feel like that too, Kayla said they did, but it was different for him. He was a part of the world, loving and laughing, hating and fearing like everyone else. And yet he was also a part from it all, standing on the fringes. He could never really be a part of life because he was forced to live on while others grew old and died around him. Victor used to be with him, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him as everyone else perished. But Victor wasn't Victor anymore. He wasn't his brother.

When his daughter was born, a part of him had been grateful. Here was someone could might be like him, someone who would always be there to love and hold, to share all the bad and the good. She and Kayla really were his only reason for living now.

But another part of him didn't want that. He didn't want his daughter to know the pain of outliving everyone. To be almost completely alone in the world. Oh, he'd be sure to be there for her whenever she needed him, no matter what, but he knew sometimes that shouldn't be enough. If she was lucky, she'd end up being more like her mother and have a more normal life.

"Daddy!" the delighted squeal interrupted his train of thought.

He glanced out the door to the small elementary school where his wife worked and his daughter got a proper education. Elena had just started first grade this year and quickly became friends with half the school. Her wide toothy grin and dark sparkling eyes charmed anyone who laid eyes on her. She was so much like her mother it hurt. The same dark hair and caramel skin, high cheekbones and full lips. The only thing she really got from him was his eyes.

"Hey baby," he called, sliding out of the car to gather her into his arms, letting her burrow her face into his neck. "How was school?"

"It was fun," she exclaimed, pulling back to look him in the eye. "The teacher let us pick out a book from the library and guess what!"

"What?"

"I can read as good as the third graders!"

"No!" He already knew this of course. Kayla had taught her how to read early and she loved to read anything she could get her hands on.

"Yes! Mrs. Compton was very impressed."

"I bet she was," he grinned as Kayla joined them, leaning around Elena to place a chaste kiss on his lips.

"Let's go home," she smiled, taking Elena from him so he could slide back in behind the wheel.

* * *

Time passed differently for Logan. The years he spent fighting in the wars, and then fighting for Stryker had passed in a blur of blood and pain and sorrow. He'd never been happy killing the way he had, but it had been all he knew. He didn't know how to change it. And then everything became sharp again and he realized exactly the type of monsters he and his brother had become. He didn't want that. So he left.

The following years he drifted from places to place, never settling down or putting down roots. He didn't think he was worth anyone's time or love. He just needed some time to himself to recoup. That time didn't pass so much in a blur, more like moments. Little things stood out in his memory, certain smells that would comfort him, a person or two that could make him laugh and didn't mind that he was a stranger.

And then he met Kayla and the world ground to a halt. She was warm and forgiving and nothing he deserved. But she wanted him anyway. Him. Exactly as he was. He was putty in her hands. Then she blessed him with Elena and they were married and he couldn't be happier. Every day stood out like a shining beacon. He had finally found his home, his place to belong.

He should have expected the other shoe to drop.

He was working as a lumberjack at the time. Not the greatest pay, but between his paycheck and Kayla's they made ends meet. Elena was excelling in first grade, happy and healthy and everything he could ever want. His life was as close to perfect as he could imagine.

And then the jeep rolled in.

He straightened from where he'd been stacking lumber as the sound and familiar scents reached him. A few seconds later his co-worker, Phelan, turned and his brow furrowed, "Who the hell is this?"

Logan took the cigar from his mouth, "Smells like government."

Phelan gave him an odd look but turned back to work, realizing Logan would take care of whoever those people were. He stuck the cigar back in his mouth and turned around, eyeing Stryker and Zero where they stood in front of the white jeep in pressed suits. He grabbed his axe before moving closer to speak with them.

"My God," Stryker called. "Haven't aged a day!"

"Clean living," he muttered.

"You remember Agent Zero?"

Logan turned to the stoic Asian, "Still shooting first, asking questions later?"

In a move even Logan was hard pressed to follow, Zero whipped out his gun from a shoulder holster and shot off the end of his cigar before tucking it back out of sight, "You still chewing on cheap cigars?"

Logan spit out the remainder of the cigar, glaring at Zero with every intention to gut the pig just for showing his face around here.

"Boys, please," Stryker sighed, used to their bickering. His eyes stayed locked on Logan, "I have a job for you."

"I already have a job."

"Lumberjack?" Zero chuckled, "Eighteen grand a year?"

"Eighteen-five," he corrected. "Plus I haven't had to kill anyone in a while."

"Starting to miss it?"

"Right about now I am."

"Yeah?"

"Zero," Stryker cut in, starting to sound exasperated. "Back to the car."

Logan raised an eyebrow. He'd always found it amusing how Zero acted like the good little soldier, following every order without question, when Stryker's real interest had always been, disturbingly enough, Logan and Victor.

"Atta boy," he commented when Zero made to retreat to the car. He clicked his tongue like he was signaling a dog, motioning to the jeep when Zero stopped to glare at him.

When Zero was out of earshot, Stryker continued, "You know, I'm not proud about the way things ended between us."

"Conversation's over," Logan turned away. Whatever Stryker had to say, he didn't want to hear it. He had no intention to go back to that life and nothing the other man said was going to make a difference.

"Playing _Little House on the Prairie_ with a schoolteacher, that just isn't you Logan," Stryker called after him.

Logan whipped around, his insides boiling at the mention of Kayla. But not so much that he failed to notice one detail. If Stryker knew he had a daughter, that would be who he'd bring up first, knowing how Logan had only stayed so long because of family. A daughter, no matter how much he loved his wife, meant so much more to him. The fact that Elena hadn't been brought up before Kayla meant Stryker wasn't as informed as he thought he was.

"And you would know, huh?" he asked, layering the question with different meanings.

"I would." There was no flicker of deceit in the man's scent or voice, his eyes clear. He really didn't know about Elena.

Logan breathed a silent sigh of relief, "What do you want, Stryker?"

He pulled a newspaper from under his arm, unfolding it to show a black and white photo of a familiar face. The headline read, _Circus Freak Murdered_.

"Bradley was killed three days ago," Stryker pointed out the obvious.

Logan felt a twinge of sadness. He had never been close to Bradley, but the man had been the only one of the old group that had never annoyed the crap out of him. For him to be murdered and labeled as nothing but a circus freak was more than a little sad.

"Wade before that."

His eyes snapped up. Bradley being killed was sad. Wade being killed was worrying. Not that people didn't want to kill Wade. Everybody wanted to kill Wade at some point. But that was the point, everyone _wanted_ to. The bastard was almost as hard to kill as Logan or Victor.

"I believe that someone is hunting down our old team."

He swallowed thickly, "Anyone else?"

"As far as I know, Victor is safe," Stryker answered the unspoken question. "But whoever it is has names, addresses."

He slapped the paper against the man's chest, cutting him off with a sneer, "I can take care of myself." He walked back to the car, tossing his axe and gloves into the back before sliding behind the wheel. He had to pick up Kayla and Elena from the school soon.

"This is not about you, Logan," Stryker's voice followed him. His face appeared in the open window, "Your country needs you."

Logan threw the car into drive, refusing to turn towards the Colonel, "I'm Canadian."

As he drove away, Stryker continued to yell, "I know you, Logan! I know who you are!"

* * *

He tried to keep it to himself, to keep Kayla from seeing the words that were festering in his mind. They just kept playing over and over, Stryker's voice taunting him about the deaths looming over his head. He knew he could take care of himself, but what about Kayla? What about Elena? He couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to them.

"What's wrong?" Kayla's voice was soft. He glanced over Elena's head at her. She was frowning slightly, hands helping their daughter untangle the Cat's Cradle string while concerned eyes concentrated on him. He sighed, turning back to the road.

"Stryker came by today," he never could hide anything from her. He really should stop trying to. He glanced at her, "Don't worry. I said no."

She sighed, moving Elena to her lap from the middle seat, glad that the six-year-old seemed oblivious to the conversation, "Why is he bothering you after all these years?"

"Because I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice," he glanced at his daughter who was glaring at the string like it personally offended her. He had to smile at the almost identical look on her face to one he'd given Zero only a few hours ago.

"You're not an animal, Logan," she clutched Elena more securely to her. "What you have is a gift. One you passed on to our daughter."

He sighed. It had only been a month ago that they discovered Elena carving her name into the tree behind their house, using nothing but her nails. If that hadn't been an indication that she had in fact inherited his mutation, he didn't know what was. He'd been scared for her. He didn't want her to be ridiculed or feared for something she couldn't control, for something that was as a part of her as her fingers and toes.

"A gift," he scoffed, hands gripping the steering wheel tighter. "You can return a gift."

"Hey," her hand pressed into the back of his neck, fingers massaging the tense muscle there. "Nothing's going to happen to her. We'll keep her safe."

He sighed, leaning into her touch, "That's not really what I'm worried about."

"That's not what I'm talking about, either," she chuckled. "She has you to teach her how to control all of it, and both of us to make sure she knows we love her no matter what."

"You talking about me?" Elena's childish impersonation had her parents laughing.

"No more late night movies for you," Logan chuckled.

"Aww," she whined, making her mom laugh again and cuddle her close until she began to giggle. The tension in the car disappeared at the sound, leaving them slumping in the seats.

They were about halfway home, about to cross a bridge, when Logan pulled to a stop. On the bridge, two cars were parked, the drivers standing in the space between as they chatted.

"Come on, fellas," Logan muttered, honking the horn to let them know they were there.

One of the men flipped them off without even tuning from his friend.

"Alright," he growled, shoving the door open.

Kayla's hand gripped his sleeve, holding him still, "Stay in the car."

"I'm just gonna ask nicely," he assured, getting out. He heard Kayla sigh in exasperation but chose to ignore it as Elena giggled.

"You mind letting us go by?" he asked a bit harshly as he approached the two men.

"You in some kind of a hurry there, pal?" the one who had flipped him off asked.

"Hey, hey, hey."

"Are you?"

"Just move your truck so we can go by."

"We're trying to have a conversation here, alright?" he shoved at Logan suddenly, making him stumble back a step. Distantly he heard Elena call for him and the car door open behind him as the man continued to verbally berate him, "You start something, you'd better be ready to finish it."

Taking a deep calming breath, Logan turned back to face him, "Listen…" He trailed off as a fist came flying towards his face. He easily caught it and squeezed, making the man's face crumble from confidence and anger to fear.

"Hey, guys, take it easy!" Kayla called, her footsteps growing louder as she ran over, "Calm down." She placed her hands on both of their shoulders making the men turn to her, hands falling to their sides once more. They both panted lightly, staring at the small woman between them.

"Daddy!"

Logan whipped around in time to catch his daughter as she barreled into him.

"I told you to wait in the car," Kayla sighed.

Elena snuggled closer to Logan, arms banded tightly around his neck as he rubbed her back, whispering soothingly into her ear as he eyed the man in front of him.

"Your husband's got a big mouth," the man muttered to Kayla.

"I know. Big temper too," the insinuation of who he took the temper out on was obvious, much to Logan's disgust. He kept his mouth shut however, in favor of calming down Elena. "So please let us pass."

The man huffed and moved away motioning for his friend to leave too.

"Thank you," Kayla called after before nudging Logan back towards their car.

"How'd you do that?" Logan chuckled.

"Female powers of persuasion." She grinned at him over the roof of the car, "It's a gift."

"Oh, I see," he opened the driver's side door and placed Elena inside. "Do you have these powers over me?"

"Well, you didn't stay in the car, did you?"

They laughed lightly, sliding into the car with their daughter. Elena immediately wormed her way under Logan's arm and snuggled into his side. He grinned down at her and pressed a kiss to her hair. It was time to take his girls home.

* * *

That night, after Elena had been put to bed and Logan had collapsed onto their couch, Kayla stood in the kitchen, getting him a beer from the fridge. They'd been talking off and on for a while now about seemingly random things when Kayla's work came up. She was beginning to teach the kids about the history of the Canadian Natives of the area. Her being one gave her a little more insight on the subject then the other teachers, including the old folklore.

"Why is the moon so lonely?" she began, having promised an old myth.

Logan who had been picking up some of Elena's toys and still held one of her dolls, leaned back to look at his beautiful wife. He smiled at the lean woman in his favorite white dress, "Why?"

"Because she used to have a lover," she said giving him a heated look.

"Oh," he nodded. "You tell this to the kids?"

"No."

He laughed, tossing the doll onto the couch next to him.

"His name was Kuekuatsheu and they lived in the Spirit World together," she continued, bringing over his beer.

"Oh, this is a true story?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Alright."

She hitched up her skirt so she could climb into his lap, straddling his thighs. "And every night they would wander the skies together, but one of the other spirits was jealous. Trickster wanted the moon for himself, so he told Kuekuatsheu that the moon had asked for flowers. He told him to come to our world and pick her some wild roses, but Kuekuatsheu didn't know that once you leave the Spirit World, you can never go back. And every night he looks up in the sky and sees the moon and howls her name." She tilted her head back, imitating a wolf howling, "But he can never touch her again."

"Wow," Logan whispered, staring at her reverently. He loved to watch her tell stories. The sparkle in her eye when she did was the most gorgeous thing he'd ever seen. "Koo-koo-ka-choo got screwed." But he was still Logan.

She fought a smile, "Kuekuatsheu."

He laughed and nodded in agreement.

Her smile burst forth as a hand reached up to caress his face, "It means 'the Wolverine'."


	2. Uncle Victor

**Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is not mine.**

**X-Men Origins: Wolverine  
Uncle Victor**

_Kayla took a deep breath to calm herself. The school had sent her home early when she'd bolted out of her classroom and into the ladies' room in order to upchuck her breakfast. It hadn't been the first time that'd happened recently either. She wasn't stupid. Far from it, actually. She'd caught on pretty quickly to what was happening. But she had to be sure before she said anything to Logan. This was going to change everything. Even things he didn't know about yet._

_Now, sitting on the closed toilet lid of her and Logan's bathroom and staring at the small white stick balanced on the sink, all she could think about was not throwing up again. The egg-shaped kitchen timer she'd set up went off after three minutes of intense staring. Her hands shook as she lifted the pregnancy test to eye level, blinking at the little window as tears gathered in her eyes. This was simultaneously the best thing that ever happened to her and the worst. _

_Bagging the test and all the evidence up, she hurried back out to the car. Her mind whirred with plans, anything that could help the situation. Certain truths dawned on her and she knew she would never be able to live with herself if a few particular events played out like they were supposed to. But at the same time she had no idea how to stop them. She couldn't stop them. She didn't hold that kind of power. That meant she had to find a way to keep it from affecting the little one now growing in her stomach._

_A hand reached down to cradle her still flat abdomen. She knew what she had to do to make sure nothing happened to her child, but she really didn't like it. So much could go wrong. So much was already wrong though, so what was a little more craziness._

_She drove straight to the small grocery store in town where a pay phone stood in front of the building. She tossed her used pregnancy test into the trash can at the side of the road and used the phone to call one of the few numbers she had memorized for just such an emergency._

"_What?" the voice growled on the other end of the line._

_She drew in a shaky voice, "Victor. It's Kayla."_

"_What the hell are you thinking? Why are you calling me?"_

"_This has nothing to do with…I need your help. _James_ needs your help."_

_There was a pause, "What's wrong?"_

"_I'm pregnant," she whispered into the phone. "And I can't let Stryker get the baby. I won't let him."_

_Victor inhaled deeply, releasing on a sigh, "What do you need me to do?"_

* * *

Elena was happily chattering away about her new class pet. It was a white rabbit they named Henry. She wanted to be allowed to bring it home the next weekend. Her best friend Carly had taken it home this weekend and she didn't think that was fair since Carly already had lots of animals at her house but Elena didn't have any.

Kayla smiled at her daughter, catching the hint about wanting her own pet, but she and Logan had already decided against it. At least until Elena was older. Though, in her own mind, Kayla knew Elena would never get that pet. She would never have a normal childhood after today. Victor had contacted her that morning. The plan was already in motion, whether she was ready or not.

Sure enough, after driving around a bend in the road, a tall bulky figure came into view. The man stood in the middle of the road, forcing Kayla to ease to a stop. She took a deep breath when she recognized her husband's brother.

"Mommy?" Elena tugged on her sleeve. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing baby," she gathered her daughter close to her side, hugging her tight for what was likely the last time. "Just stay quiet okay?"

Elena nodded, one little hand tightening in her mother's shirt as if that would stop anyone from taking her. Kayla looked back up, never breaking eye contact with Victor as the man slowly walked to the car. He nodded ever so slightly, letting her know he was still on her side when it came to this. Elena would be safe.

Elongating his claws, Victor scratched down the hood as he walked closer, giving Logan enough clues to who had been there. Not that he needed them. Their shared heightened sense of smell would tell him enough. Elena whimpered beside her, clapping her hands over her ears at the high pitched whine as the metal of the hood was split. Kayla ran a hand down her arm to sooth her daughter.

"Kayla," Victor's deep voice greeted as he crossed his arms, leaning them against the open window. "And this must be Elena." The little girl blinked wide dark eyes up at him, making him smile, "I've hear a lot about you, you know."

"Elena," Kayla moved the girl so she was sitting on her lap. "This is your Uncle Victor. He's your daddy's brother."

Her eyes widened further, "Really?"

"Really," Victor chuckled. "Your mommy and daddy are going to be taking a little trip, so I offered to babysit you for a while, if that's okay."

Elena narrowed her eyes at the man in thought and Kayla had to fight a smile. She looked so much like her father when she did that. But she was glad in a way. Victor seemed completely at ease with her so far, and if she continued to remind him of his little brother, they could get along very well. She just hoped Elena would be comfortable with her uncle.

"Where are we going?" she demanded of the man, making his grin widen.

"Have you ever heard of Disneyworld?"

The high pitched squeal had both adults flinching as Elena practically flew out the open window and into her uncle's arms. He laughed loudly, cuddling her to him like a plush toy.

"I just have a few things I need to go over with your mom, okay? And then we can go."

"Okay," she turned her head to press a kiss to his cheek, "Thank you Uncle Victor."

The man looked absolutely stunned as he cuddled her again. Kayla smiled sadly, sliding out of the car to take her daughter back. She hugged her tightly, kissing her head multiple times as she fought back tears, "I need you to wait here for Uncle Victor to get you, okay? Don't leave the car. I'm meeting your daddy up the road and Uncle Victor is going to walk me real quick so we can talk."

"Okay, Mommy. I'll be good. I promise."

She pressed one last kiss to the little girl's hair, fixing her pigtails as she set her back in the car, "That's my girl."

She stared at her small daughter gathering the few toys left in the car for a long moment before Victor took her by the elbow and pulled her away, leading her to the woods. They walked until they were sure Elena's enhanced hearing couldn't overhear anything.

"There's a pack in the trunk," Kayla said, her voice shaking slightly. "It has a few changes of clothes for her, a couple books for bedtime, her toiletries, and a picture of me and Logan. Don't let her have too much sugar. She'll never be able to sleep. And no naps. She still young enough but she sleeps better at night if…"

Her voice trailed off as Victor did something completely unexpected. They were not close in any sense of the word, but here he was, her husband's brother and her daughter's uncle, a man she hardly knew or cared for at all, hugging her as she quietly sobbed for her loss. Her life would never be the same. Her family would never be the same. And it was all her fault.

"I'll take care of her," he promised. Saying nothing else.

She nodded into his shoulder, squeezing for a second before stepping back, "What will you do? Where will you take her?"

"Well I did say Disneyworld didn't I?"

She gave him a look that clearly said she didn't believe him.

"I'll stay long enough for Logan to go to Stryker, just like we planned. Then Stryker wants me to disappear for a while. I'll take a small vacation to Florida and set up a safe house for the pup. She'll be fine."

Taking a deep breath, Kayla nodded, "Alright. Thank you."

He motioned for her to lay down, pulling out everything he needed to make her death look real at the same time, "Time for you to die."

* * *

Victor settled the small girl into the motel bed, tucking in the blanket around her. A small nightlight plugged in across the room left an eerie glow to the room. Why Elena needed a nightlight at all was beyond his understanding. She had proven she could see perfectly fine in the dark soon after the sun had set, but still she had insisted. It was what Mommy and Daddy did, so she needed the light. He didn't argue. He was taking her away from everything she ever knew, even if she didn't know it yet. The least he could do was put up with a few eccentricities.

She murmured in her sleep. Something about Minnie Mouse that made him smile. She was truly excited about the trip, but there was something he had to take care of first. He bent over to kiss her forehead, already feeling more like a parent than an uncle. The pack mentality with being a feral was strong. So strong that he couldn't help adopting his brother's pup until Jimmy could take care of her himself, which wouldn't be for a very, very long time.

He snuck out of the room, closing and locking the door carefully behind him. He trusted she would be safe. He had checked the area for any unsavory folk and was pleased with how little he found. Elena would be fine until he came to collect her and hightail it out of town before Stryker got wind of her. Handing over Jimmy was one thing. The boy could take care of himself. But Elena was just an innocent little girl. Stryker couldn't know about her. Not after everything he'd seen on the Island. He wouldn't let that happen to his niece.

The bar he had left a scent trail too for Jimmy to follow was just around the corner. In his anger and grief, the younger brother wouldn't think to look anywhere else, just go to where Victor's scent was strongest, so there was little chance of him finding Elena. Victor entered the wood-themed establishment (he rolled his eyes at the obvious choice of décor) and plopped down at the bar. While he waited for his brother he idly began to etch a little doodle into the wooden table top in front of him until he had a cartoonish face smiling up at him.

"You're not from around here, are you?" the bartender's voice had him glancing up. The man looked a bit frightened at his almost feral appearance.

He laughed lightly, "What gave me away?"

Suddenly Jimmy's voice broke through the calm silence that seemed to envelope the building, "VICTOR!"

His smile dropped off as he kept eye contact, "You got insurance on this place?"

"Insurance?" the bartender smiled humorlessly. "No."

"Too bad."

"VICTOR!" Jimmy's voice was closer.

Victor counted to three in his head before the doors resembling a barn door flew open and his furious baby brother stormed in, growls rolling off his chest. He turned slowly in his seat, keeping his face expressionless, "Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in."

"Guys, whatever this is, take it outside," the bartender tried to defuse the situation.

"Where is she?" Jimmy growled, completely ignoring him.

"Who?" Victor raised an eyebrow.

"You know who!"

They stared at each other in silence, each measuring up the other. It wasn't long before Jimmy's claws slowly grew out from between his knuckles, causing all the humans to gasp quietly and beat a hasty retreat. Victor smirked. He'd hate to admit it, but this was kind of fun.

"Why?" Jimmy asked lowly.

"Why?" Victor laughed as he stood. "You don't call. You don't write. I didn't even know I was an uncle." He strode forward a few steps. "How else am I supposed to get your attention?" He lowered his hands, letting his claws come out.

Both men growled at each other and lunged forward, running until they met in the middle of the open floor of the bar. Victor tackled his brother, sending them both flying into the wooden front door. Debris flew everywhere as they landed hard outside. Jimmy yelled in pain as he gripped the front of his shirt, letting his claws sink into flesh and tossed him overhead into a giant neat pile of logs.

Then the fight really began. Both began throwing punches an clawing at each other, trying to cause as much pain as possible. Part of Victor thought this would be quite cathartic for his brother, letting him vent his anger on someone who could heal just as easily as him. But he didn't let his brother get in many punches before he was throwing him into a logging machine.

Victor began to circle him as Jimmy groaned in pain, "I hate to say it, Jimmy, but, frankly, I'm a little disappointed." He watched his brother struggle to his feet. "Stay down."

Jimmy lunged at him again but he grabbed his arm to stop him, swinging him around to dig his claws into his shoulder. Unfortunately, he also got three bone claws in his own shoulder. Somehow Jimmy managed to get his arm back long enough to toss Victor onto the pile of logs from earlier. With a growl, he waited until his baby brother was close enough and kicked out the beam keeping the logs in place, crushing Jimmy underneath as he stayed on a more stable part of the pile, away from harm.

He jumped down when his brother didn't move and pulled a log off him, picking him up and shoving him against the pile, "Tell me something, Jimmy. Was she worth it?"

The sound of a truck approaching cut him off, so instead of beating his brother more, he decided to end it now. Using all his strength, he tossed his brother into the semi and watched Jimmy smack against the windshield and roll over more logs until he landed on the cold hard ground. He lay on his stomach across the metal beams of a railroad track, looking utterly defeated. It tugged at Victor's heart strings, but this needed to be done. Elena needed men who could protect her. Mutants were being hunted all the time. He saw it happen. Some of them he made happen. He wouldn't let it happen to his niece because his brother was weak.

Moving around his brother's sprawled body, he stopped by his head, "When are you going to figure it out? We're not like them."

Jimmy raised his head high enough to glare at him, "I am nothing like you."

"Sure, you are," he smirked. "You just don't know it yet." With that he lifted his foot and brought it down hard on his brother's still exposed claws. The bones broke easily, leaving nothing but nubs as Jimmy's tortured scream punctured the air. He turned to head back to the motel as the sound of sirens approached.


	3. Adamantium

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable.**

**X-Men Origins: Wolverine  
Adamantium**

"_What do we got?_"

"_Bar fight. Multiple knife wounds._"

Logan's mind sluggishly pulled him back to consciousness until he could hear unfamiliar voices and smell the overly clean scent of a hospital. Why was he in a hospital? He healed fine on his own. He didn't need to go to a doctor.

He felt someone cutting open his shirt and feeling around his chest as cold air hit his exposed skin. His mind jolted back into action, memories of the previous day flooding back to him as he stayed frozen to the doctor's table. Kayla, his gorgeous wife, was dead. His darling daughter Elena was missing. And Victor… This was all Victor's fault. When he got his hands on that son of a bitch…

"What is this, a joke?" the doctor's voice filtered through, louder now that he was fully conscious. "Guy's fine."

Logan's eyes popped open as his hand shot out, grabbing the doctor by the front of his scrubs and pulling him down to his level as he sat up, "Where is he?"

"Hey, hey, don't…"

"I said, where is he?" Logan stood from the table and pushed into the man's personal space. If he'd been found at the bar than surely someone knew where Victor was. He had to find him. He had to get his daughter back before Stryker got his hands on her. He may have lost his wife but he'd be damned if he'd lose his baby girl as well.

"I don't know who he is," the doctor said quickly, trying to placate him.

"I can help you."

Logan whipped around to glare at Stryker. This was all his fault just as much as it was Victor's. Both men were going to die for this. He shoved the doctor away and marched over to the Colonel. His hand gripped the man's throat as he shoved him back into a window in the hallway outside of the surgery room.

"Six years I've been here." He tamped down the memories of them moving here, even further out to the middle of nowhere, when Kayla had been close to giving birth. They wanted the isolation, the privacy, just in case the baby turned out too much like him. They didn't want her to be hunted for being a mutant, so they removed themselves from most civilization. Plus the schools were actually excellent in the area.

"No one knew me, and then you show up, and the next day she's dead!" He still refused to mention Elena, not wanting to tip off Stryker, just in case. Part of him hoped pack instinct would overtake Victor and he'd protect Elena, but he wasn't holding his breath. Whatever happened to her, he was going to get her back before she was hurt. There was no other option.

"I tried to warn you," Stryker rasped out around his hand choking him.

"Why didn't you tell me it was Victor?"

"I didn't know!"

"Bullshit!" He pulled him away from the window and swung him into the opposite wall, hard. "Why?"

"I swear on my son's life, I didn't!" Logan's heart stuttered for a minute. He had a son. A sympathy he didn't want washed over him. He just wanted his daughter back.

His hand, which had slowly been cutting off Stryker's air, released him and the man slumped to the ground as Logan turned to pace the hall.

"Victor's appetites were becoming too public," Stryker explained hurriedly. "I had to lock him up. He felt I betrayed him. Went AWOL. He said he was coming after all of us."

"You didn't come to warn me," Logan growled. "You came to save your own ass." He turned away, determined to track down Victor. He was the only one who could possibly know where Elena was.

"So what's your plan, Captain?" Stryker called after him. "You can't beat him, Logan, you know you can't!"

"I'm gonna find him and kill him." He ignored the footsteps following him.

"I can give you the tools to defeat him." Logan turned to eye the Colonel warily. "And we can still save the others."

"You mean save yourself, right?"

He smirked, "I can promise you two things. You will suffer more pain than any other man can endure, but you will have your revenge."

Revenge was good. But what about his daughter? That was one thing Stryker couldn't promise. But what other choice did he have. He couldn't do this on his own.

"I come with you, I'm coming for blood. No law. No code of conduct. You point me in the right direction, you get the hell out of my way."

* * *

Elena giggled as her uncle swung her up onto his shoulders. He didn't have very long before he had to rejoin Stryker, but until then he fully intended to spend as much time with his niece, his new pup, as possible. They were currently weaving through groups of families in search of Mickey Mouse (or any of the princesses, whichever came first) while Elena licked her way around an ice cream cone.

A couple jostled him to the side as they chased their young twin boys who had just charged past. He growled low in his chest, too quiet for the humans to hear but Elena giggled, tugging on his short hair as she swayed side to side from her perch and humming along to one of the annoyingly happy songs constantly blasted from every corner.

"Enjoying yourself?" he asked wryly, trying not to wince as she unconsciously tugged on his hair again when she turned to look around her.

"Yep," she answered happily and he felt a drop of melted ice cream hit the top of his head. He sighed. The things he put up with for his pup.

"Good. Now try not to splash me anymore."

She giggled but he didn't feel anymore ice cream drop into his hair so he figured he won.

"Uncle Victor," she began quietly as he headed towards Cinderella's Castle. "Mommy and Daddy aren't coming to get me, are they?"

Victor froze. He'd been so careful. He tiptoed around any mention of her parents, just to stretch out her happiness a little longer. He didn't want to break her little heart but she had somehow seen straight through him. She was far too much like Jimmy that way.

He sighed and reached up to pull the girl down from his shoulders. The ice cream was gone but her hands and face were sticky when he set her on the ground. He took her tiny hand in his and began walking toward a more secluded corner near enough to a restroom so that he could wash her off.

When they had settled down on a bench, both now free from any ice cream residue, Victor pulled his niece into his lap, "Your Mommy and Daddy are in a bit of trouble right now, and so Mommy asked me take care of you because they can't anymore."

"Oh." Her little brow furrowed as she thought that through, "What about when they're out of trouble?"

He sighed again, trying to come up with a way to explain without getting her hopes up, "Whenever they're able, they'll come get you, but that may not be for a very, very long time."

She frowned down at her hands for long time, her little experience in the world making it hard for her to contemplate not having her parents with her. Before he could come up with something to say to make her feel better a feminine voice interrupted them.

"Oh my! I hope nothing is the matter!"

Victor's head shot up to look at the intruder only to roll his eyes at the actress dressed as Cinderella who was really hamming up the shock at seeing a little kid looking sad outside her castle. Elena, on the other hand, gasped, eyes going wide. She stared up at the princess for a long moment and a smile broke out across her face as she slid from her uncle's lap to run up to Cinderella, already chattering away a mile a minute, her worries momentarily forgotten. For the first time in his life, Victor found himself mentally thanking Disney for existing.

* * *

Anger pulsed through him. Blinding rage that overpowered even his grief for his wife and anxiety for his daughter. It helped him cope and focus on what was important. He could do nothing but live moment to moment until he got Elena back. He couldn't allow himself to think about what could go wrong or hope for the future he swore he'd get back eventually. The rage kept that in perspective, even if it wasn't particularly healthy.

The lab table they had him laid out on (completely naked) was ice cold and the water lightly bubbling just below didn't help any. He refused to look around at the equipment spaced throughout the room or the doctor drawing lines on his skin. He didn't want to think about what was going to happen. He didn't want to think about anything.

"When it starts," the female doctor said, leaning over him to look in his eyes and forcing him to look back. "Whatever the reason is that you're doing this, focus on that. Maybe it will help."

"Trust me, I've been through worse," he muttered.

"No, you haven't," she shook her head before turning away to stand at her station nearby. She mumbled a "we're ready" to Stryker as she passed him, prompting the older man to approach the table.

"We're gonna make you indestructible, but first we're gonna have to destroy you." He paused and Logan looked away. "You remember what we were looking for in Africa?"

His head jerked back around. What did that have to do with anything? "I remember."

"Well, I found it. It helped us create a metal compound so strong that you will be able to withstand virtually anything. It's called Adamantium." He waited until Logan was looking at him again to continue, "I can't put Victor down myself, Logan. To kill him, you'll have to embrace the other side. Become the animal."

Logan stared up at the ceiling, teeth grinding. Stryker didn't realize just how close to the surface the animal already was. The loss of his family, his pack, had violently wrenched it there and now it refused to go back to its cage. Logan knew on some instinctive level that it would never fully back down until Elena was safe in his arms again. Kayla may be lost to them, but Elena was still out there. She had to be. And he was going to get her back, no matter what it took.

"Let's do this."

"I almost forgot," Stryker dug around in his pocket. He held up two metal dog tags, allowing them to clink together as they dangled over Logan.

Logan shook his head slightly, "I want new ones."

"What do you want them to say?" Stryker asked quietly, obviously a little shocked by the turn of conversation.

"Wolverine."

Stryker backed away, a creepy smile on his face. Another troop of doctors replaced him and began the process of hooking Logan up to the respiratory machine and heart monitors. It wasn't long though, that the Colonel returned with his newly pressed dog tags that would forever label him as the Wolverine. He tried not to think about Kayla as a doctor wrapped the chain around his neck, but it was impossible when he'd chosen that name for her. So instead he did what the doctor had told him. He kept the reason he was doing this in his head. His revenge for Kayla, to gain his daughter back. He clung to their faces like they were the only things keeping him from death. In a way, they were. If it weren't for them he was sure he would have tried any form of suicide possible just to stop the pain and loneliness of his existence.

He listened as more military men stepped into the lab, whispering amongst themselves as they gawked at him. Stryker strode in a second later, coming to a stop in front of the main control panel.

"Generals," he greeted the newcomers, "Welcome. General Munson. Today we're gonna witness medical history. Today we're gonna create Weapon X."

"X?" a new voice asked.

"Roman numeral ten," Stryker explained in a quieter tone, then grew louder again, "We are about to begin bonding Adamantium to Weapon X's skeleton. Let's begin."

Logan heard a light hiss a second before the table began to slowly lower into the water and the surrounding machines inched closer to his body. He blinked as he was submerged but refused to close his eyes. The clear water stung as he concentrated on not panicking. The pictures in his head, the ones of his family, grew sharper as he focused as much as possible on them. He didn't want to be aware for too much of this.

Spinning needles stopped centimeters from his body, making him want to squirm if it weren't for the fact that he was tied down. He eyed the one closest to his face with trepidation. Maybe this wasn't the best plan in the world, but it was far too late to back down now. His eyes widened and his body tensed as the needles suddenly shot straight through his flesh and into his bone. He'd be screaming if his nose and mouth weren't covered by the respiratory mask. Elena and Kayla's faces all but vanished from his mind's eye as pain erupted throughout his entire body. He felt like he was on fire or melting, like his he was shattering into a million pieces and yet still managing to stay put together. He strained against his bindings, amazed his strength hadn't popped at least one of them yet.

Some distant part of his mind heard Stryker commentating, "Body temperature, one-zero-eight and rising."

The man from before, the new one, asked, "Why is he thrashing like that? Why isn't he sedated?"

"He feels pain, just like the rest of us, but anesthesia won't work on him. That's why he had to volunteer."

"Heart rate, one-ninety," the female doctor said in a calm voice. "One-ninety-five."

"Will he survive this?" the man asked.

"I don't know," Stryker answered honestly.

"Two hundred." There was an annoyingly incessant beeping noise Logan knew didn't mean any good, but he couldn't seem to care as his body convulsed in pain. "Heart rate well beyond maximum."

"Blood pressure?" Stryker asked.

A male doctor answered, "Two-sixty over one-eighty and rising."

"He can make it," Stryker muttered. "He can make it."

Logan felt his heart beating so hard it felt about ready to leap from his chest. His breaths became short and rapid as Elena's face swam back into focus, bright and smiling, laughing at something he said, calling for him whenever she spotted him in the car after school, racing around the house playing tag. That was his life, his reason for living, and he _would _get it back.

His mind slowly faded to black as he stopped struggling against the bonds, the ghost of Elena's laughter still ringing in his ears.

"_Come on, old friend_," a voice sounded from far away. "_Come back_."

He forced his way back to consciousness, Elena's happy face still at the forefront of his mind. It was slow and tedious but he gradually made it back to the land of the living enough to hear the conversations around him more clearly. Slugging through the excited whispers, he focused on one in particular. The one Stryker was holding with the lead group upstairs.

"We did it," the Colonel stated, sounding far too pleased with himself. "Yeah!" there was a loud thud as if he'd hit a table in his excitement. "Yes."

"Are we taking him to the island?" Zero's voice asked.

"The island? No." Stryker was close to whispering, not wanting to let the Generals overhear. "The bonding works. We'll use his DNA for the XI. Erase his memory." When no one immediately jumped to the task, Stryker repeated more firmly, "Erase his memory."

Logan's eyes snapped open in horror as flashes of his life with Kayla and Elena flickered through his mind. He couldn't lose that. He _couldn't_. His strength suddenly returning in his rage, he arched his body to put as much strain on the bindings as possible. He felt the mask snap off as well as the needles that were still too close not to get in the way. His claws began to extend, pushing aside his bones and cutting through flesh a lot more violently than usual while searing pain shot up his arms in reaction.

"I think he heard you," he heard Zero comment lowly.

_No shit_, he thought. It was just like Stryker to forget about his hypersensitive hearing.

He finally managed to slip his bindings and the rest of the machines hooked up to his body, allowing him to stand with a sort of war cry. Everyone in the room seemed momentarily frozen in shock and fear as his gaze swung up to the man responsible for all this. He heard a gun discharge a second before a bullet ripped its way across his forehead, rebounding off his new mental skull. The force was enough to knock him back a step, making him growl as he turned back to glare at Zero who had two guns raised and pointed at him. His flesh was already knitting back together when he jumped from the tank.

"Lock down!" Stryker yelled while an alarm blared throughout the compound.

Zero continued to fire at Logan. Fly might as well have been landing on him for all reaction he gave. Instead, he concentrated on slicing his way through the men who came at him from the front, trying to stop him from leaving. He made it through the large automatic metal door before it could slid closed, locking everyone else in while he made his escape.


	4. Xavier's School Of The Gifted

**Sorry, this one's short and crappy. Especially the ending. But it needed to be done and I didn't want to just continue rambling at the end so I cut it off kind of abruptly. Anyway, you'll see a little variant on how the movie is supposed to go. I much prefer the First Class version of Xavier than the one glimpsed in this movie at the end, so I changed it to have the James McAvoy Xavier. **

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.**

**X-Men Origins: Wolverine  
Xavier's School Of The Gifted**

There was only one place Victor knew for certain would be safe to leave Elena while he worked with Stryker. He'd never been there himself, or known anyone to have stayed there, but the rumors were plentiful. Professor Charles Xavier was the leading expert on mutants, though most normal humans weren't even aware mutants existed, let alone that they had a safe haven in New York. The man had started a school soon after being put in a wheel chair. It was still small, barely a handful of students he'd scraped together living in the large mansion, but it'd be the perfect place for Elena to hide out in for the time being.

Victor had been called by Stryker just a few moments ago, telling him the location of the newest mutant he was supposed to take to the island. He also got an update on Jimmy while his niece was out of earshot, eating a burger and fries at a small diner they'd stopped at. Turned out Jimmy was smarter than he looked. When he heard Stryker mention erasing his memory, the mutant had gotten the hell out of dodge, killing a few foot soldiers along the way. He'd escaped and managed to flee to a small farm owned by an elderly couple. Stryker claimed that Jimmy had killed the couple and took off on the motorcycle he found there, so Zero had to chase him, only to be killed when Jimmy took down their helicopter. Victor could see his brother killing Zero no problem, but the civilians? There was no way. The whole reason the younger brother had left was because he couldn't stand the killing anymore.

But none of that concerned Elena. At least not yet. Maybe when she was older. Right now, he was going to take her to Xavier's school where she would stay until this whole thing blew over. Then, once Stryker was taken care of, he'd go collect his niece and, on the off chance he survived, give her back to Jimmy. He loved the little twerp, but she belonged with her father. She deserved to have a normal childhood. Well, as normal as you could get being raised by Jimmy.

They made it in record time to the school and Victor was just glad that he didn't have far to go to get that other mutant, the kid with the laser beam eyes. The mansion was even bigger than he thought it'd be with expansive grounds surrounding it. He was pretty sure he could spot a swimming pool and a tennis court from the drive way. A kid that looked to be around ten or so was out front jumping rope. She stopped as they approached and eyed them a moment before taking off into the main house. Victor rolled his eyes and entered after her, deciding the direct, forceful approach might be best until he could get a read on this Xavier guy.

"That's not really necessary," a kind British voice told him. He turned to watch a pretty boy wheel up from a hall, the young girl walking next to him, followed by a tall lanky man covered in blue fur with fangs protruding from his lips. Elena moved to hide behind her uncle with a little gasp. The man in the wheelchair smiled slightly, "Any and all mutants are welcome here."

Victor grunted, "I'm not staying. I have some business to take care of. I just need a safe place for my niece to stay while I'm away."

The man nodded in understanding, turning his eyes to the young girl who was peeking out from behind her uncle, "What's your name, sweetheart?"

Elena looked up at her uncle who nodded, "Elena Howlett."

"It's nice to meet you, Elena. I'm Charles Xavier, but you can just call me Professor, alright." She nodded hesitantly. "This is Doctor Hank McCoy and Elisabeth Ocean. Lizzie, why don't you show Elena our game room?"

The girl nodded, blonde curls bouncing around her face as she held her hand out for the new girl to take. Elena looked up at Victor with dark, worried eyes.

"Go on," he encouraged, giving her back a small push to get her going. Once the two girls had turned a corner, Xavier motioned him to follow as he turned to go back the way he'd come. The blue man, Hank, followed at a short distance. They maneuvered through a long twisting hall that lead to large oak double doors. Hank pushed them open, allowing the Professor and Victor to walk through before closing them again and joining them.

"I am more than happy to take care of your niece for however long you may need, Mr. Creed."

"How do you know my name?" Victor growled, jerking up straight from where he'd been about to lower into a chair in front of the large desk Xavier had rolled behind. Hank settled into the seat next to him, completely at ease.

"I apologize, I should have explained," the Professor motioned for him to sit, but Victor preferred to stand until he was sure Stryker wouldn't be breaking down a door and demanding he hand over Elena. "I am a telepath, Mr. Creed. That means I can read people's minds…among other things."

Victor let out a slow breath, eyeing the man warily as he sank down into the leather chair, "How much do you know?"

"Only the basics that flowed through your mind since you've approached the house. I generally do not invade another's mind unless given permission. However, as you were coming to my school unannounced I felt I needed to see whether you had any malicious intent." He paused to let that sink in. When Victor nodded his understanding, he continued, "I know about the island. I've known for quite a while, however we aren't with the resources at present to attempt a rescue attempt for those children. I am aware your part has been more for show these past few years. It changed when your sister-in-law asked you to look after her daughter, to keep her safe from Colonel Stryker. While I can understand wanting Elena to be safe and focusing your efforts on that, I cannot stand by and watch the other children suffer.

"Make no mistake," he held up a hand to stop whatever argument Victor had planned. "I fully intend to help you keep Elena from Stryker's radar. I simply wish to save the others as well."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Victor growled.

"With your help," Hank spoke up finally. "You know the island better than most. You could give us the general lay of the land so we aren't flying in completely blind."

"If you do not wish to help, I won't hold that against you," Xavier assured. "No matter the decision, you and your niece will have a safe haven here."

Victor tilted his head back, thinking. He didn't have to worry about Elena. She was welcome here no matter what he chose, so he immediately changed tactics. What would he gain from helping them? Absolutely nothing as far he could see. Jimmy, though. Jimmy was far more honorable than him. His tendency to jump in and save people had almost gotten him killed dozens of times. Or at least shot. It was hard to kill him, after all. The point was, he would more than likely jump in front of whatever weapon Stryker was cooking up to save those children. But what if they could get them out beforehand? If there were no children there to protect, he could escape before he got hurt and Elena would have her father back that much sooner.

"Fine," he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "What do you want to know?"

* * *

Elena stood in the middle of the room, her jaw somewhere around her knees. Various games, from board to video, surrounded her on all sides as well as a large pool table and a foosball table. Lizzie was explaining how the younger kids weren't supposed to play with the bigger machines unless one of the older kids or an adult were present. The older girl pulled her along until they reached a craft table tucked into the back corner. A large puzzle was laid out half-finished on top.

"I started this yesterday but didn't get to finish it yet," Lizzie explained. "Wanna help?"

Elena nodded her head and climbed onto the chair across from the other girl. They silently searched for pieces for a while before Elena gathered enough courage to ask a question, "How many kids live here?"

Lizzie shrugged, "Um, I think like sixteen…maybe. But the Professor said he hopes to get lots more eventually. He wants the whole mansion filled with kids like us."

"So…" Elena's brow furrowed as she tried to come up with a way to phrase her question. "You…you have a…power…too?"

Lizzie giggled, "Professor calls them abilities. I have…super strength I guess."

"Cool," Elena nodded.

"What about you?"

"I…" she frowned. "I don't know how to…"

"Why don't you just show me?" Lizzie offered. "Unless it's dangerous."

Elena quickly shook her head, her long black hair whipping back and forth and hitting her cheeks, "Oh no! My daddy taught me to control it. And Uncle Victor can do the same thing too!"

"Wow! Your daddy and uncle are mutants too?"

Elena wasn't really sure what mutant meant. Her mommy had always just said her and her daddy were gifted, but she decided to nod anyway, figuring that's what the girl meant. She held out her hands to show the girl how her nails slowly elongated like her Uncle's did and then bared her wolf-like teeth.

"Cool," Lizzie breathed, eyes wide.

"Also," Elena smiled, glad to have made a friend she didn't have to hide from, "I can heal really, really fast. If I get a boo-boo it disappears a few seconds later." She waved her hands around excitedly as she spoke making the other girl grin with excitement as well.

"That would be awesome to have," Lizzie nodded sagely before going back to her puzzle. "Oh! Look! I found a piece!"

"Elena?" a deep voice called from the doorway.

Elena immediately slid from her seat and rushed to her Uncle so he could scoop her up into a hug. She buried her face into his neck and inhaled deeply. He smelled a lot like daddy, like the woods around their house and the smoke from the fireplace but with a bitter undertone of mint that her daddy didn't have. She never really liked mint but it suited her uncle somehow so she inhaled even deeper, trying desperately to trap the scent into her lungs. He'd already told her he'd have to leave her here for a little while he checked if her mommy and daddy needed help with the trouble they were in. But he pinky promised he'd be back as soon as he could. She really hoped he would come back soon. She didn't like being left alone so much.

* * *

The days passed quietly for Elena. She learned how to ride a horse after it got used to her scent. A feral – that's what the Professor said her power was called – smelt like a predator to most animals and they needed time to get used to her before she could approach them. She took a few classes to learn her letters and numbers and other simple stuff like that. The Professor said she was very intelligent for someone her age. She told him her mommy was a teacher and taught her a lot before she went to school.

Any free time Elena had was spent with Lizzie, her new best friend, and another girl named Penny. Penny was closer to Lizzie's age, but didn't mind hanging out with Elena any more than Lizzie did. The three girls would run around the back grounds and learned to swim in the large pool.

Elena was the only one out of the three who had complete control of her power. Lizzie was often breaking things on accident and Penny, who was a pyro according to the Professor, would start fires whenever she became upset about something. It didn't happen often, but when she accidentally burnt Elena's entire arm over a silly argument she refused to leave the room until Elena showed her her perfectly healed arm. There wasn't even a scar. At that point Penny and Lizzie both named Elena their best friend since even if they accidentally hurt her she would always get instantly better.

Even though she was having fun with her new friends, Elena was always looking out windows, waiting for her uncle to come get her again. Xavier's school was great, but she missed her family. She wanted her mommy and daddy. She wanted her Uncle Victor. She wanted to go home. More than once Lizzie and Penny would climb into her bed with her when they woke up to her sobbing into her pillow. They didn't know what to do, didn't understand as their own families had abandoned them when their powers surfaced, but they still climbed into the bed and clung to the weeping girl until all three would fall asleep in a big puppy pile.


	5. The Old Team

**This will probably be the last chapter for today. I just really wanted to get a few more out before working on anything else. Also, I didn't actually edit this so it's completely raw. If you find any mistakes I apologize.**

**Disclaimer: Marvel characters do not belong to me in any way, shape, or form.**

**X-Men Origins: Wolverine  
The Old Team**

He drove and drove until his eyes were weary and his body was stiff. The lights of Las Vegas were like a beacon, drawing him in as he wound his way through the desert. He wasn't fool enough to think he could take on everything on his own, that's why he had went along with Stryker. He'd hoped he could gain something to help him. Turned out he was just being used. He should have seen it coming, really. Stryker was always more interested in himself than others.

The city was chaos incarnate. People roamed the strip in various states of undress, claiming that they were sober enough to drive while leaving all their money on the casino floors. Luckily the place he was looking for was off the beaten track. Far off.

John Wraith had been one of the few people he genuinely liked on Team X. He'd been a sarcastic ass half the time, but his humor at least didn't rub Logan the wrong way like some of the other's did. The black man seemed to still have a heart as well. After everything they'd seen and did, John still was affected by their actions. He'd been the one Logan was sure would leave not too long after him. Hopefully the man would still be willing to help an old friend.

The rundown boxing gym almost screamed John. Logan didn't know why he thought that. None of them had ever talked about what they did or wanted to do outside of the team, but it just felt like the laid back man in the building. He was led up to an office on the second floor by a tired looking instructor who answered questions mainly in grunts. Logan liked him.

"Well I'll be damned," John muttered as soon as he opened the door. He waved Logan in and the instructor wandered away with a slouch. Logan propped himself up on the arm of a chair while John took the chair behind the desk and they chatted for a while before John cut to the point, "Why are you here Logan? It's not like you just drop in to see friend's all the time."

So he told him. Everything. Including Elena. John could be trusted. There wasn't a hint of deceit in his scent or his heartbeat. He could and perhaps would help Logan track down his daughter.

When he finished talking, voice growing hoarse, John blew out a puff of air, "I need a beer. You want one?"

Logan chuckled humorlessly, "Yeah. Sure."

John walked to a mini-fridge in the corner and pulled out two bottle, tossing one to Logan as he walked back to his seat, "You sure it was Victor?"

"Yeah," he caught the beer in one hand and leaned his elbows on his knees with a sigh.

"Damn," he sighed as he sat back down. "I'm sorry, man. I can't imagine…You don't know what happened to her? Your daughter? Maybe Victor…"

Taking a long gulp of beer, Logan shook his head. He didn't want to think about that. He got up and paced across the room to where the window overlooking the gym stood, "What the hell happened to him after I left?"

"He got worse. He felt like you abandoned him. Hell, we all did. But Victor, he had to prove he was better than you. Hunting and killing everything he was pointed at. Quit a few months later myself. Couldn't take rounding them up."

So Logan had been right. John was the one to follow his lead first. He looked closely at his friend's haunted expression, "Rounding who up?"

"Leave it alone," John answered quietly.

"Rounding who up, John?"

The man pushed himself out of his seat, agitated, and tried to walk away.

"Hey! Damn it, John!"

He spun back on his heel to pin Logan with a half-hearted glare, "We hunted our own kind, Logan. There's a special place in hell for the things we did."

Logan's brow furrowed, "Mutants?" John nodded. "Why?"

"Stryker said we'd be making a difference, protecting people from the bad ones."

John collapsed into a chair and Logan couldn't help but sit back down himself. All he could imagine was Elena, his sweet baby girl being taken by Victor or whoever else was still working for Stryker, and being locked away, experimented on.

"You don't–" Logan cleared his throat when his voice threatened to crack. "You don't think…Would they take Elena?"

John hesitated, "If it was Stryker, then yes. But you said he didn't know about her, right?"

Logan stayed silent, running things over in his mind. He refused to think of his daughter getting captured. She was smart, even if only six-years-old, and could fight however limitedly. Surely someone would be willing to rescue a wandering child who was lost. He didn't dare think of her getting caught by someone with bad intentions.

John managed to break through his thoughts, changing the subject to something vastly more pleasant, "How are you gonna take Victor down, Logan?"

"Remember that stuff in Africa?" he asked. He hadn't mentioned what Stryker had done to him yet, thinking it would be too much information to take in at once.

"Yeah, I remember Africa," John nodded. "What about it?"

Instead of verbally answering, Logan raised a fist and flexed, allowing his claws to fully extend with a metallic swish.

John's eyes widened comically as he leaned forward to get a better look, "Damn."

Logan retracted his claws with a sigh.

"What'd they do to you, man?"

"Don't ask." He looked down at his hands, forcibly beating back the memories that threatened to overwhelm him. He turned his attention to something else he needed to know about, "Listen, Zero said something about an island. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Nope," John sighed. "But maybe Dukes knows. Him and Zero were real tight."

"Fred Dukes? Where is he?"

"He's here."

"Well, let's go talk to him," Logan pushed to his feet.

"Hold on," John raised his hands to hold him off, standing as well. "He don't get in till around four. But I gotta warn you, he developed a bit of an eating disorder. We all got our coping mechanisms. I'm trying to whup him back into shape. Whatever you do, don't mention his weight."

Logan quirked an eyebrow in question but didn't say anything. After all, the man had been all muscle last time he saw him. How bad could it get?

The couple hours they had before Dukes came in was spent catching up on the good things. John talked about the ups and downs of owning his own business and about the girl he was seeing. They'd only been out once or twice but Logan could see in the man's eyes how much he loved the woman already. It was the same look he'd seen time and time again in the mirror when he thought about Kayla.

Tentatively, as if he had seen the path Logan's thoughts had taken, John began to ask questions about Kayla and Elena. Logan was hesitant at first, but gradually he was able to open up more and tell a few stories.

"So you named your daughter Elena?" John asked after Logan had finished describing what she'd been like as a baby, how scared he'd been that he'd somehow break her. "Any reason?"

Logan shook his head. "Just sounded…right. Kayla liked it."

John nodded slowly when Logan didn't explain further and glanced at the time, "Dukes should be here soon. Let's head down."

Logan took a deep breath before standing and following his old friend out of the office. They headed down a rickety flight of stairs and into the large open space that served as the main room for the gym. Punching bags hung around the room, a couple people practicing with their coaches. In the ring that stood to one side, a man was preparing to fight…something. Whatever it was, it couldn't be a man, Logan thought.

The bell dinged and the man began punching the big wobbly belly of the…thing. The other seemed completely unaffected as the approached, simply standing there and letting the man take cheap shots however he could.

"Come on, Fred," John shouted. "If you wanna get in shape, you gotta move, man." He turned to Logan briefly, "I told him he gotta move."

Logan's eyes widened and he grabbed John, yanking him down as the man flew over their heads. They stood back up, Logan unable to stop gaping at the thing still in the ring and currently slurping at a convenience store slushy.

"Fred Dukes?" he muttered. "That looks like the creature that ate Fred Dukes."

"Hey be nice, man," John muttered back.

When Fred turned to look at them, Logan felt obligated to approach, "Hey, fat…" He cut himself off before he could finish and corrected himself, "Fred." He eyed the tattoo on the big man's arm, remembering when he'd first gotten it, "I seem to remember that girl when she was about eighty-five pounds, huh?"

Fred turned his head as far as he could to glance at the stretched out tattoo, "Oh, that's funny. You're still so funny, Logan."

"You know where Victor is?" he cut straight to the chase.

"No idea," he shifted on his feet, making the ring creak ominously.

"What's the island, slim?"

He glared at the feral, "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Logan." He turned away, moving as slow as a glacier.

Logan growled under his breath, stepping up on the edge of the ring and holding onto the top rope to steady himself, "Listen, I ain't leaving here till you tell me where Victor is. He may have my daughter, and I'm getting her back. So come on, bub, for old time's sake, huh?"

Slowly, Fred turned to glare at Logan once more, his lips quivering in fury as he began breathing heavily, "Did you just call me…Blob?"

"No," Logan said slowly, trying to come up with a reason why Dukes would be so pissed.

The large man roared with anger and, faster than Logan thought possibly, he ran straight at the feral, knocking him over with his belly. Logan was sent flying across the room, growling when he heard John chuckling. He landed on top of the guy Fred had previously been fighting, sending them both tumbling into a large sign.

John appeared beside him, eyes twinkling with mirth, "I told you not to mention his weight. Why'd you call him Blob?"

"I didn't call him Blob. I said 'bub'," he huffed as he got to his feet, ready to tackle and maim Fred Dukes if need be. "God damn it."

"Hey, hey, hey," John put up his hand in a placating gesture. "Hey, Logan. I got an idea."

Logan's eyes narrowed. An idea. Why did he get the feeling this wasn't something he was going to like? Probably because John still looked far too amused.

Before he knew it, he was standing in the corner of the ring, his jacket and flannel gone, leaving him in his wife beater and jeans. He leaned over the rope as John handed him a pair of boxing gloves, "This is your idea of an idea?"

"I'm trying to help you out, Logan," John's lips twitched as he fought a smile. "Dukes don't like you that much and you know it."

"Yeah, the feeling's mutual," he muttered, slipping on the gloves.

"Well, use them gloves, man. Dance with him a little bit. Allow him to let his anger out on you. Figure if you do that, he'll probably tell you everything you wanna know."

"Come on, man," he glanced over his shoulder. "Look at him. Gotta big old ass coming out the front of his shirt. Jesus. He's gonna have a coronary, for Christ's sake. Is there even a stretcher big enough to take this guy out of here?"

John struck the bell with one hand instead of answering and Logan turned to fight, only to get knocked back by a gigantic fist. He leaned weakly against the ropes as the dizziness and pain slowly faded.

"It ain't him I'm worried about getting out of here on a stretcher," John grinned.

"You're an asshole," Logan told him as he pushed away, making the other man laugh.

"Come on, Logan," Dukes taunted.

This time John waited until Logan was fully turned around to ring the bell. The feral slowly paced a circle around his opponent as the Blob bounced on the balls of his feet, shaking the whole ring. He had to try to find a weak spot. Most of Fred was just fat and Logan remembered how indestructible he'd been before. More than likely it was exactly the same, just more jiggly now. He shook his head slightly. It seemed even when she wasn't there, Elena's six-year-old vocabulary could take over his.

"Whup his ass!" John called, though to who was debatable.

"You want it?" Logan joked before lunging in to hit his stomach but Dukes didn't even flinch.

"Dance with him, Fred! Just like I taught you."

"You wanna dance with me?" Fred continued to taunt as Logan threw more punches. "Oh! Oh, that feels good." His fat moved with every blow, but otherwise he seemed completely unfazed. "Hey! Guess what?" he said suddenly, causing Logan to look up in time to be hit by another hard right hook.

He fell to the ground with a grunt, feeling his jaw snap back into place from where it had momentarily dislocated. Fred had punched him so hard, he'd even partially broken the fine layer of metal covering the bones in his face. That was impressive, Logan had to admit, but getting really old. He had to finish this and get what he came for. The sooner he did that the sooner he could find Elena again.

John appeared on the other side of the ropes, leaning on the ring floor with a smile and a beer in hand, "See, he gonna talk now. You got him right where you want him."

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Logan questioned, only making the black man's grin widen.

"Come on!" Dukes called. "Come on, now, lamb chop!"

More prepared this time, Logan hopped to his feet and waited for Fred to start swinging, ducking his meaty fists twice before he spun around behind his opponent and tried punching his back. It came away with the same results as the front, however, and Logan growled in annoyance. Fred turned to face him again, bringing his fist up to connect with Logan's chin, sending the man into a backflip, midair. He landed, once more, on his back with another grunt. John was laughing from the sidelines as Dukes grabbed Logan's shoulders and pulled him to his feet, swinging his head forward into Logan's. There was a metallic clang as their foreheads connected and Fred wen stumbling back, going a bit cross-eyed. Logan tilted his head to the side in thought while he watched the disoriented Dukes try to keep his balance.

"Damn!" John muttered.

Logan turned to the closest corner and, with a running start, jumped onto the top. He leaned back, putting stress of the ropes so that they could shoot him forward like a bow and arrow. With a yell he raised one gloved fist and brought it down as hard as he could on top of Fred's head. The giant swayed on his feet before finally tipping over and falling back into the ropes, taking them down with him.

Logan ran to his side, letting his claws extend through the glove so the tips hovered over Fred's nonexistent neck, "Now, where's Victor?"

Unfortunately, Fred Dukes was no longer conscious. With a sigh he turned to John, "How about that stretcher?"

"Damn," John shook his head and climbed up to help Logan tug Fred into a corner and prop him up. The man didn't so much as twitch.

Logan peeled off his gloves and crouched down next to Dukes, slapping his face a couple times to try and wake him up, "Hey, hey! Where's Victor?"

Fred blinked at him dazedly, glancing at John who had joined them before answering, "Yeah. Victor's with Stryker on the island. They run it together."

"What?" Logan breathed. This was not good. He'd gotten played worse than he thought. Not to mention he really had no idea where Elena could be now. He had hoped that Victor had found her when he went after Kayla and was keeping her safe, because she was family, pack. But if he was working with Stryker…Logan didn't even want to contemplate that option. "They what? Victor will be with Stryker?"

"Yeah," Fred nodded slightly. "You didn't…you didn't know that?

Logan spun away, pacing around the ring in a feeble attempt to control his anger. He punched one of the corners, letting out a shaky breath. His entire body was vibrating with rage. He was just a pawn in a giant chess game he didn't even understand and his daughter was caught in the middle of it. He wasn't sure he could survive this.

Still breathing heavily, he managed to ask, "What's the island?"

"It's where Stryker takes them after Victor's caught them," Fred admitted shakily.

"Wait, hang on a minute. Takes who?" He winced internally. After his conversation with John earlier he could guess who would be there.

"Mutants. Rumor is that Stryker's doing experiments on them there."

John pointedly looked away from Logan as he stared down at his clenched fists.

"I mean, you never wondered what happened to them?" Dukes asked John.

"I tried not to," he answered quietly.

Logan finally turned back to his old friends, feeling shell shocked, "They killed her so I'd let them put Adamantium in me. They killed her for a goddamn experiment. My wife is dead, my daughter missing, for this."

"D-daughter?" Fred muttered, shocked.

John shook his head but it was too late. Logan spun back to Dukes, rage spilling out again as he took hold of the man's sweaty shirt and demanded answers, "Where is it?" He shook him slightly, one hand pulling back into a fist, "Where is it?"

"Logan, Stryker kept it a secret," Fred answered quickly.

Long metal claws slowly extended from his fist to just above Fred's face.

"But," he continued. "A prisoner escaped there once."

"Who?"

"Ah, his name was Remy LeBeau. He was a-a street hustler from New Orleans. The-the-the guards a-a-at the prison called him Gambit because he kept taking all their money at poker. That's all I know."

"What's Stryker up to, Fred?" John asked from behind Logan. "What's the endgame?"

Fred kept his eyes on Logan who still had his claws out, "He's taking their powers. Trying to combine them somehow. That's all I know, Logan. That's all I know."

"If I have to come back here, I'm gonna take your head off." He let his claws slink all the way back under his skin before he released Fred and moved away. He hopped down off the ring and snatched up his jacket and shirt as he headed for the back door. He'd parked the bike behind the shop to keep it from people's notice. Hopefully it was still there. This wasn't the best of neighborhoods after all.

"I'm coming with you, Logan," John called after him, suddenly appearing at his side a second later.

"There's no redemption where I'm going."

"I ain't asking."


	6. Gambit

**We're getting very, very close to the end of the Wolverine Origins. I'm going to stretch it out a little longer though, to include more of Elena growing up and all that. And we'll probably see more of the other X-Men, but I'm not going to do the X-Men trilogy, for now, here's the next chapter. Enjoy. :D**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing, unfortunately.**

**X-Men Origins: Wolverine  
Gambit**

Death was easy. Killing was the simplest thing in the world. It was what he was good at. What he did best. Jimmy had never had as easy a time. Oh sure, he could kill just as well as the next man, but it was the aftermath that Jimmy had always had problems with. The conscience. Jimmy always suffered after he killed. Victor wasn't like that. He had a conscience of course. He just chose to ignore it. It was more of a survival thing, he guessed. He did what he had to, Jimmy did what was right. When he could anyway.

But as good as he was, Victor still felt a twinge of guilt for killing off his old team. Wade. Chris. Fred. They had been his friends once upon a time. But things were different now. They had left. He stayed. He was a soldier, a killer, and he had orders to follow.

He stalked after Jimmy and John as they entered the small casino/bar…_what was that place anyway? _He sighed, shifting on the his perch on the roof of an adjacent building. He hated waiting, but he could hardly burst in there and kill John in front of everyone. Luckily he didn't have to wait long. John appeared a few minutes after they entered, stepping out onto the fire escape that served as a back door. With a grin, Victor dropped down into the alley just around the corner, out of sight, and leisurely stepped through the garbage that had been piled up and scattered around, idly kicking at an empty beer bottle as he went. A second passed before John appeared in front of him, investigating the noise.

"You my brother's new babysitter, John?" Victor asked lowly, making the dark man spin around.

"I ain't Bradley, Victor," John answered, straightening his jacket. "And your creepy black coat don't scare me."

"Really?" he smirked. "Worked on Dukes."

John's face fell into fury as he threw a punch, disappearing almost simultaneously and reappearing behind Victor, "You shouldn't have done that, 'cause now I'm gonna kill you, before Logan gets a chance."

Victor growled, spinning around, claws extended, only to grasp nothing but air as John disappeared again. Another growl rumbled through his chest in frustration. That little trick always did bug the crap out of him. He turned to see John back in his original position, raising his fist like they were going to box. HE chuckled humorlessly, flashing a predatory grin.

"You know, John, there's something I always wanted to tell you."

He allowed John to punch him twice, disappear, reappear beside him for a punch to the side, and disappear again. Victor spun just as John was in the middle of reappearing behind him, this time managing to grab hold before the bastard could flash away. John gasped in pain as he manifested around Victor's arm, claws digging into his spine.

Victor leaned closer to the wide-eyed, terror filled mutant, "You're predictable. Ooh," he glanced down at where he occasionally saw his hand wrapped around bone while John attempted to transport away, only to cause himself more agony as Victor held on. "I can feel your spine, Johnny boy. That's funny. Never knew you had one."

John's eyes drooped closed as he finally began to pass out from the pain. With a sneer, Victor ripped his arm out of the other man's body, dragging the spine along with him. The dead body that had once been John Wraith fell to the ground with a dull thud. Victor sighed as he knelt down beside it, staring into the lifeless face of his old friend.

"Sorry," he muttered unapologetically as he began gathering the blood sample Stryker needed.

He head snapped up when the side of the building suddenly shattered, a body flying through the wall and landing on the wet, dirty cobblestone ground. The person ground and muttered to himself, signaling just who it was. Only one man could fly through a brick wall and mutter profanities at whoever had thrown him. Victor quickly tucked away John's blood into the pocket of his coat and stood, watching his little brother struggle to his feet.

Their eyes locked across the alley, making Jimmy sneer in anger and disgust as they squared off. A young man jumped through the hole in the wall and stalked up behind Jimmy. He looked vaguely familiar, though Victor couldn't pinpoint why.

"Two years I rotted in that hellhole," the man said to the back of Jimmy's head, not even noticing the other man or the dead body down the alley. "And I ain't never going back."

Without breaking eye contact with his brother, Jimmy threw his elbow back into the man's face, cutting him off abruptly and knocking him out. Victor smirked a little in satisfaction. Nice to see his little brother could still hold his own. Maybe he could protect his daughter after all. Jimmy raised his left fist, allowing his new metal claws to shoot out as he heaved giant breaths.

"Oh!" Victor taunted. "Shiny."

Jimmy growled low under his breath.

"Tell me something, Jimmy. Do you even know how to kill me?"

"I'm gonna cut your goddamned head off," he said seriously. "See if that works."

Victor laughed. He couldn't help it. Even while Jimmy was threatening him with the clear intention to follow through, all Victor saw was his little brother throwing a temper tantrum. It wasn't something Jimmy did, even in their more innocent younger years, but when he did throw a tantrum, something always ended up destroyed. Victor just hoped all his limps were still intact by the end of this one.

Jimmy launched forward and Victor ran to meet him halfway, ready for the counterattack, only to be swiped at from below as Jimmy slid under him. He spun through the air, landing on another pile of trash.

"You're getting slow, old man," Jimmy goaded as he pushed himself back up.

They stumbled towards each other, anger radiating off Jimmy as Victor smirked. Both threw their hands at one another, ready to attack in some way, and Jimmy's claws ran straight through Victor's hands, tearing through the flesh as if it were butter. The smirk dropped off his face as he screamed out in pain. He grunted when the claws from Jimmy's other hand pushed through his chest and he was slammed into a dumpster. His hand was momentarily released so his brother could aim the points of his claws at his face.

"You son of a bitch," Jimmy growled in his face. "You're gonna die for what you did to her. To them."

"Elena," Victor pushed out, watching from the corner of his eye as the young man from before flew down from a rooftop, cane spinning in his hands. "Is safe."

Jimmy's eyes went wide in shock, his mouth popping open to answer, but before he could utter one syllable the man landed, slamming his cane into the ground and causing some sort of force field to send them flying back down the alley, Jimmy's claws retracting from Victor's chest as they went. But it wasn't just them. The whole alley – the ground, the walls of the surrounding buildings, the trash, _everything_ – flew away from the kneeling man as well. The whole place looked like a storm had blown through. Victor swore under his breath as he raised his head to look around, eyes catching on his brother to make sure he was okay. They may be damn near immortal as far as anyone could tell, but Victor would always worry about his family, his pack.

As he stood, he stared at his brother, who was still scowling fiercely, though there was a spark of hope now in his eyes. Slowly, Victor backed away, turning to run down the alley.

"Victor!" Jimmy shouted desperately after him, but he didn't turn. As much as he loved his brother, as much as he adored his niece, right now was not the time for a family reunion. He had to get John's blood to Stryker before the man got suspicious, and Jimmy had to sort out whatever the hell had happened with the man with the cane.

* * *

Logan growled in frustration, at himself, at Victor, and yeah, a lot of frustration at that damned kid with the cane. If it weren't for his perfect fucking timing, Logan could have gotten his daughter. Or at the very least, information on where his daughter was. It didn't even occur to him to think Victor was lying. He had heard his brother's steady heartbeat, had smelt no deceit. Elena was safe. But how? Where? These were things he _needed_ to know, dammit, and that kid just screwed it all up.

He moved to follow his brother, only to have Gambit whack him in the face with his cane hard enough to make him fall back. He glanced up as he pushed to his feet to see the kid twirling his cane around in what he probably thought was an intimidating fashion.

When he finally stopped, Logan held up one fist, releasing his claws, "Well, that's a nice stick."

The two outer claws retracted so he was essentially flipping the kid off. Gambit smirked and brought his cane up once more, only for Logan to easily slice through it. Gambit blinked in surprise at the two sticks in his hands, allowing Logan to get in a kick to his abdomen. The kid stumbled back, coming out of his shock long enough to attack again, but Logan was prepared. He grabbed Gambit's right arm and twisted, rendering it useless and ducked when he swung the other stick at his head. He grabbed that one too, twisting it the other way. Gambit, however, didn't seem fazed. He smirked again as he flipped to the side, dragging Logan with him and sending him sprawling across the destroyed alley.

He groaned as his back popped back into place before standing again an watching Gambit scale the wall nearby, digging his broken cane into the wall to lift him up. The kid must be a freaking circus performer. He ran over the wall, jumping and flipping in midair so that he landed effortlessly on the fire escape on the opposite side of the alley.

Before Gambit could climb to the roof and make his getaway, Logan ran to the support beams for the fire escape. Using his claws, he sliced through the metal, sending the escape falling away from the wall. He did it again and again, until the metal structure stopped falling, making Gambit cling onto the railing at the top to keep from falling. Logan made eye contact with him as he cut the last support beam, sending the kid and the escape crashing to the ground. Dust flew up, making it hard to see as he ran forward.

Logan grabbed Gambit by the shoulders and threw him into the wall, "Okay, shithead, here's the deal. See, you're gonna take me to this island, where I can kill Creed, Stryker, and pretty much everyone you hate in this world. Do you understand?"

Gambit breathed heavily, his body limp as he finally submitted, "You're really gonna kill them?"

"As long as you stay out of my way, yeah."

Without another word, Gambit pushed him away, giving a small nod as he lead the way out of the alley. Logan followed quietly, his mind racing on everything that had happened, but centering around one detail like it was his new mantra. _Elena was safe_.

* * *

He wasn't sure how he expected Gambit would take him to the island. A boat, maybe. But a plane? He groaned internally as he followed the kid into the private airstrip where the most broken down plane Logan had ever seen sat waiting. He really, really wished he didn't have to step foot on that thing. Normally he would refuse, but for Elena? He sighed, already regretting his decision as he sank into the torn up seat.

The flight was bumpy from the get-go. Ten times worse than anything he'd flown on before. He gripped the leather strap next to his seat like it was the only thing keeping him from death. Probably was, too. Gambit was visibly amused, smirking out the windshield without a care in the world.

"You don't like flying, huh?" he teased, turning to face his passenger.

"I'm fine," he replied shortly. "Just concentrate on what you're going."

"You sure?" the kid laughed. "You got a bit of sweat on your brow there."

"Very funny. Just keep your eyes on the…"

"On the what?" he interrupted. "The clouds? Keep my eyes on the clouds?"

"You're up and down like a freaking yo-yo here!" Logan yelled over him, decidedly annoyed as the kid laughed more. "Where'd you get this thing anyway?"

"Oh, this is my baby. I won her in a game. Jacks over fives."

Logan sighed in exasperation, "Great."

"Relax. We're almost there." Gambit smiled as he turned the plane sharply, making Logan turn slightly green.

Logan could see the kid shooting him looks out of the corner of his eyes as time went on, "What?"

"What'd they do to you, anyway?" the question burst out of him like he couldn't hold it in anymore.

He inhaled deeply, bracing himself against the pain he knew would shoot through him when he answered, "Killed my wife. Took my daughter. Lined my bones with metal."

"Damn," he breathed. "And I thought I had a reason to hate them."

Logan just grunted, not wanting to talk about it more.

"How old was she? Your daughter?" Looks like he didn't have a choice.

"Six," he answered quietly. "Elena was six."

"That's, uh, that's a little young. To have powers. Isn't it?"

"Yeah," his voice had dropped to a whisper. He refused to talk about it anymore. Gambit seemed to take the hint as the ride became much more silent after that. A few minutes later, the cloud coverage cleared enough for Logan to see down to a group of lights around tall cylindrical buildings.

"There it is," Gambit said. "The island. Three Mile Island. Hiding in plain sight. No one's gonna snoop around a nuclear reactor. They think it's gonna turn them into freaks."

"Like you?"

"Right," a smirk spread over his face. "Alright. You ready? Because it's now or never. Let's go."

"About time," Logan growled, unbuckling himself from his seat and moving to the door. He threw it open and looked down at the water rushing by below him. He turned back to Gambit, yelling over the wind, "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, this is really gonna hurt."

"Well, yeah, it kind of does actually," he grinned.

Logan smirked back, "Good luck."

"Likewise."

"Oh, shit," he growled, pushing himself from the still moving plane.


End file.
